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FCC Investigating Disney on DEI

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Also the issue here is that this time the licenses of WABC-TV, KGO-TV, KABC-TV, WLS-TV are at play here.

thedesk.net

FCC Chair Brendan Carr targets Disney's DEI practices

The agency regulates eight ABC television stations owned by Disney, which hold FCC-issued licenses.
thedesk.net thedesk.net

The letter, sent on Friday, acknowledged that Disney has “recently made some changes to how it brands certain” diversity efforts within the company, but expressed concern that Disney may not have gone far enough in those changes — and may continue to be considering diversity and equity goals in its hiring decisions.

“Numerous reports indicate that Disney’s leadership went all-in on invidious forms of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusiveness) discrimination a few years ago, and apparently did so in a manner that infected many aspects of your company’s decisions,” Carr wrote.

Federal rules prohibit licensed broadcasters from discriminating on the basis of certain elements, including race, religion, age and gender. Disney owns the ABC network, and eight local ABC television stations hold FCC-issued broadcast licenses to use public radio spectrum.
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TheBigA said:
Here we go again. Since when is DEI against the law? The president doesn't make laws. That's congress' job. But Brendan Carr believes DEI is illegal.

www.usatoday.com

FCC investigates Disney's diversity practices for potential violations

FCC Chair Brendan Carr wrote Disney CEO Robert Iger in a letter Thursday that the company's DEI efforts may not have complied with FCC regulations.
www.usatoday.com

This is the same thing he's investigating at Comcast.
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Brendan Carr seems to have minimal concern for the actual law. I'm guessing that his goal here is essentially an elevated and more intense version of "regulation by raised eyebrow" that was common in the sixties -- I guess we could call today's version "regulation by intimidation".
 
TexasTom said:
I guess we could call today's version "regulation by intimidation".
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I agree. What we're seeing is a lot of these executive actions are not only illegal, but unconstitutional. The president just throws them out there to test his authority and see what he can get away with. When he gets slapped down, he blames the judges. He keeps hoping he'll find a court that will approve. So far, most haven't. But until then, Carr keeps operating as though he has to follow what his boss tells him. What I read in this particular letter is he refers to FCC regulations. I'm not aware of what FCC regulations have to do with DEI. I suspect the Disney lawyers are also looking at that. Because if it isn't in his jurisdiction, the court can throw it out. But then that kicks it up to the DOJ.
 
Andy Travis said:
One irony is that the conservative "celebrities" like to throw around the phrase "Go woke, go broke."

If that's the case then why are they worried about Disney anyways? If their practice of DEI is so negative, it'll fail. Free market, and all that.
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On that subject, conservative media is having a field day with the new version of Snow White, projected to lose about $200 million for Disney "because it is so woke".

In any case, and for whatever the reason that the Snow White ticket sales are lagging, the fact is that box office results are not good and the conservative talk radio stations and places like Fox News and Breitbart are playing this to the max, while others are just saying that the movie is just not a very good remake.
 
DavidEduardo said:
On that subject, conservative media is having a field day with the new version of Snow White, projected to lose about $200 million for Disney "because it is so woke".
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People don't understand the movie business. Theatrical release is just a small part of the revenue stream for movies today.

The $200 million will be made up in international and streaming revenues that will come later.

But also a lot of these remakes have had disappointing box offices. People are just bored with remakes.
 
TheBigA said:
People don't understand the movie business. Theatrical release is just a small part of the revenue stream for movies today.

The $200 million will be made up in international and streaming revenues that will come later.

But also a lot of these remakes have had disappointing box offices. People are just bored with remakes.
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They wanted to “modernize” Snow White. Thats where the issues started. And it’s probably not a great remake to begin with.
 
Andy Travis said:
One irony is that the conservative "celebrities" like to throw around the phrase "Go woke, go broke."

If that's the case then why are they worried about Disney anyways? If their practice of DEI is so negative, it'll fail. Free market, and all that.
Click to expand...
Yes that phrase was used the last time Disney was involved in a lawsuit but it was directed at the State of Florida in 2023.

apnews.com

Disney sues DeSantis, calling park takeover 'retaliation'

Disney is suing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over the Republican’s takeover of its theme park district, alleging Wednesday that the governor waged a “targeted campaign of government retaliation” after the company opposed a law critics call “Don’t Say Gay.” The suit was filed minutes after a Disney...
apnews.com apnews.com

 
TheBigA said:
People don't understand the movie business. Theatrical release is just a small part of the revenue stream for movies today.

The $200 million will be made up in international and streaming revenues that will come later.
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The direct cost of the film was $250 million per Disney itself. They have to get about $600 million in revenue to cover that. Theater showings deliver less than 50% to the film producer, and international revenues are subject to much lower theater and streaming costs in most nations of the world.

A bad theatrical release is usually accompanied by bad streaming release income.

My point is that it is unlikely to be profitable. Of course, a steady supply of this kind of movie is what is required by Disney+ to retain subscribers, but it is hard to say if just that film makes a difference.
TheBigA said:
But also a lot of these remakes have had disappointing box offices. People are just bored with remakes.
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That has been the comment of quite a few of the established critics. If you look at the Rotten Tomatoes critics' reviews, most say in some way or another that the film is nothing to be excited about.
 
Snow White looks better when international numbers are included:

Looking for now at this weekend overseas, Disney's Snow White was the top studio movie of the session, adding $22.1M from 51 offshore markets. That takes the running international total to $76.3M and global to $143.1M. No. 1s were held in Australia, Italy, Spain, UK, Brazil and Mexico. The Top 5 to date are UK ($8.7M), Mexico ($6.9M), Italy ($6.6M), France ($5.5M) and Brazil ($4.5M).
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Should leave private businesses alone which Carr is wrong and abusing his power just like the last FCC enforcing outdated rules wanting to go back to the 60s which was so wrong. Nexstar shouldn't have to sell WPIX either which I doubt Mission will do now that Carr is chairman Jessica abused her power way to much and Carr is doing the same.
 
Don CT said:
They wanted to “modernize” Snow White. Thats where the issues started. And it’s probably not a great remake to begin with.
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I could wish that Hollywood executives would think before they decide to churn out another remake. The original film is from 1937, a good 88 years ago. A lot has changed culturally during those 88 years, and sometimes I think that means that a film is a product of its era and not really something that could be produced in a different time and environment. In those instances, it is better to leave well enough alone.

Note that I'm not saying that the cultural and film environment of yesterday was better than today's -- just that it was different. And just as there are films and TV shows that couldn't be produced today, there's a lot of material produced today that couldn't have been done in the past.
 
TexasTom said:
I could wish that Hollywood executives would think before they decide to churn out another remake. The original film is from 1937, a good 88 years ago. A lot has changed culturally during those 88 years, and sometimes I think that means that a film is a product of its era and not really something that could be produced in a different time and environment. In those instances, it is better to leave well enough alone.

Note that I'm not saying that the cultural and film environment of yesterday was better than today's -- just that it was different. And just as there are films and TV shows that couldn't be produced today, there's a lot of material produced today that couldn't have been done in the past.
Click to expand...
We don't erase history books because things were done that we don't approve of now. Just throw context into it don't remake it.
 
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